Friday, December 31, 2010

2011 Horoscopes

Ready to see if your Sun sign will shine in 2011?

From your career path to your amorous adventures to just life in general, Astrology.com takes a good, long look at what the stars have in store for you this year! Click on your Sun sign below to get started with your 2011 Yearly Overview, and then check out the stellar insights into Your Career in 2011 and Your Romantic Life in 2011. Here’s to a cosmic time in the coming year!

Know a woman who always seems to be in perfect sync with the guy she is dating — they laugh at each other’s jokes, are considerate of one another’s feelings, and are devotedly in love (and best friends to boot)? Well, the reason this gal’s so lucky in love is pretty simple: It’s because she treats her guy right, and he can’t get enough of her company. Now, when I say she “treats her guy right,” what do I mean? She treats him like a friend, giving him the same five-star support, understanding, and (yes) slack we automatically extend to our girlfriends. If you want to reap the same benefits in your own love life, try some of these tips, and, trust me, you’ll notice a difference.

1. Share an activityFor women, it’s second nature to invite their girlfriends along for a shopping spree, yoga class, spa day, you name it. But activity-based bonding shouldn’t be relegated to females only. Guys love jawing over a shared pursuit, and while he might not be up for a mani/pedi (nor you for a day spent watching basketball), there are plenty of other options. Becoming gym buddies is a no-brainer (and can serve as that extra kick-in-the-butt you need to go more often!), or if you two usually dine out on a Saturday night, consider delving into a cook book and taking a crack at a recipe that’s a bit of a challenge, like duck terrine with glazed shallots. Whether it turns out terrific or so odd that you end up ordering takeout, the fact that you’ve worked toward a common goal together builds team spirit. And by investing in a history of shared experiences with your partner in crime, you’ll increase the things you have in common and experience a deeper bond.

2. Cheer him onWomen take great pains to make their girlfriends feel great about themselves, showering them with ego-boosters like, “You look amazing; that is the best color on you” or “Of course, you should email that guy — he’d be lucky to have you!” And while we might think the world of the men we date and even brag about them to our friends and family members, telling him these things doesn’t always occur to us. Maybe it’s because we assume guys possess impenetrable egos — but the truth is, they can be just as insecure as your female friends and would probably appreciate a compliment now and then. So, if he just got a promotion at work, toast him at dinner and tell him exactly why he deserved it. Or try a simple off-the-cuff statement, such as: “You look so good in that shirt — it really brings out the color in your eyes.” Don’t be surprised if he suddenly seems to be around a whole lot more often, basking in your presence.

3. Let him be himselfMost women find it hard to love guys just the way they are. We want to change their hair, their clothes, their job, and sometimes even their friends to fit our ideal. With our own pals, we’re more accepting of their differences; we can actually be proud to have a technology nerd, yoga snob or fashion slave as part of our collection of confidantes. Ruthanna Hall, a sales associate in New York, has learned to relax and appreciate distinctly male behaviors (with great results) in her own relationship. “When we go out, I might feel more like a cool lounge uptown, but then all he’ll want is a round of darts at the neighborhood dive,” she explains. Rather than sulk all evening about his lack of class, she’ll focus in on the funny conversation they’re having. “Sure, most guys do things that cause girls to go ‘uggghhh!’ But that’s just the way they are,” she says. “Why not get on with it and have fun?”

4. Tell him what you thinkWe don’t expect our best friends to always know what we’re thinking. In fact, we actually enjoy swapping our thoughts, hopes, and fears — that’s most of the fun! But why, then, are we so disappointed when our boyfriends don’t exhibit mind-reading tendencies 24/7? We’ve all been guilty of harboring romantic notions like, “If he’s been listening to me, he’ll know exactly where to take me for dinner on Valentine’s Day” or “If he were truly paying attention right now, he’d know I’m freaking out about this virus on my computer and offer to come over and help.” But trust me, you’ll save yourself a lot of disappointment by just telling him where you want to dine out on Valentine’s Day, or by asking him to come over with his anti-virus software. After all, it’s common knowledge that two heads are better than one, so just because you’ve decided he’s The One, don’t go mum and add major guesswork to your communications.

5. Give him his spaceSometimes, girlfriends just go MIA for awhile. They get so busy at work that they don’t return your emails. Do we give them flack for it? Nothing serious. But for some reason, the rules change for guys: We rail on them for not promptly returning phone calls, take offense if they want a guy’s night out. But remember, achieving a balance between “me” time and “we” time will make the time you do spend together even better. Bridget Cunningham found her relationship got so much mellower once she stopped stressing about where her boyfriend was every hour. “I don’t hold it against him when he wants to have his own time,” she says. “You don’t cut your friends off when they do things with other people, so why shouldn’t it be the same with the person you love? Meanwhile I’m free to go running off with my girlfriend and blab about girl stuff. We meet afterwards for coffee, and we’re both feeling refreshed and fulfilled by spending time apart…and that much happier to be spending time together again.”

Be the bestIn World of Warcraft (Buy | Search), some say being the first means being the best. The first to reach the maximum level, the first to kill a certain boss -- every one of them matters. In a game that boasts more than 12 million players, being the very first person, group or guild to accomplish the game's major milestones is like being the first man on the moon. For the hardcore set, it's a pretty big deal.

Cataclysm Crushed: World's First 85

Warcraft's latest expansion, Cataclysm, exploded onto the scene on Dec. 7, shattering sales records -- and the game's world at the same time. As it happens, leveling from 80 to 85 turned out to be pretty easy, and a player known as Athene needed only six hours to rocket his paladin to the new max level. According to WoW Progress, a website that tracks in-game achievements, Athene managed the feat more than two hours faster than the second-place finisher, and a few hours before U.S. players even had access to Cataclysm.

Not So Fast: First to 70 and 80

Unlike Cataclysm, Warcraft's first two expansions each raised the level cap by 10, and players required more time to scale first to level 70 and then to 80. In 2007's The Burning Crusade, the European guild Millennium banded together to help one of its members, a gnome mage named Gawell, become the game's first 70 in 28 hours. A French warlock, Nymh, reached level 80 in a slightly brisker 27 hours after the release of 2008's Wrath of the Lich King. "In real life I'm 21 and currently employed," Nymh told MMO-Champion, a popular Warcraft blog, at the time. "I took a few days of vacation for the release of the expansion." So that's how it's done!

One Down, Dozens to Go: First Boss Kill

Molten Core, a fiery cave full of (wait for it) molten lava, presented players with the hottest challenge around during the pre-expansion "vanilla" Warcraft. The North American guild Conquest earned the very first kill ever of a raid boss when they downed Lucifron, the first boss of Molten Core, in January 2005 -- and that happened back when raids required a whopping 40 players. Conquest went on to conquer more than half a dozen bosses in MC before anyone else, but a guild called Ascent pulled ahead to claim the first kill of the dungeon's final boss, Ragnaros, in April 2005.

The Burning Crusade: Nihilum on Parade

During Warcraft's first expansion, the European guild Nihilum tore through raids. The guild racked up 20 world firsts, including kills on the final bosses of all but one of the expansion's raids. Fabien "Boubouille" Bonte, the Frenchman behind MMO-Champion, one of the most popular Warcraft blogs around, says such accomplishments were nothing to sneeze at. "World first used to be [so] important," he says, because "it took two months to take down a boss, and there wasn't any way to see what was past him."

Lich King Kablooey: Wrath of the World Firsts

World first kills got complicated in Warcraft's second expansion, when every raid boasted a 10- and 25-person version on normal and heroic difficulties. That meant each boss could be killed "first" four different times. Paragon, a guild from Finland, earned the first 25-man heroic Lich King kill (phew), but the real poop had already hit the fan when Blizzard stripped the guild Ensidia of its world first for killing the Lich King on 25-man normal mode. Apparently the players had exploited a faulty game mechanic during the fight, earning a 72-hour ban and a hefty dose of chagrin, as Paragon stepped in to earn that world first legitimately.For Whom the Gong Tolls: Ahn'Qiraj Opens

On Jan. 3, 2006, Blizzard introduced a new world event to herald the coming of Ahn'Qiraj, a big bug-themed raid dungeon. Each server had to collect thousands of resources to unlock the gate and get into Ahn'Qiraj. After an orchestrated effort that took just shy of three weeks and required Alliance characters to funnel resources to the vastly outnumbered Horde players, the European server Medivh became the first to unlock the gates ... but the event was mired in controversy, and the actual opening of the gates crashed the game's server. Oops.

The First First, and Many More to Come

With Cataclysm now a few weeks old, hardcore players already are knocking out the world firsts left and right. But what about that very first world first: the first player to reach level 60, some five years ago? That remains a mystery, in part because the achievements with which we can track these things didn't exist back then. For now, that firstest of firsts remains lost to the annals of time ... or at least hidden away inside Blizzard's world-controlling supercomputer.